Facebook heads social network

Facebook is easily Australia’s most widely used social networking site with over 17.1 million visits in an average four weeks, an increase of almost 4.2 million from four years ago, according to the latest research from Roy Morgan. YouTube is in second place with an estimated 15.3 million visitors in an average four weeks, up by over 3.5 million from four years ago.

However, it is image sharing sites Instagram and Pinterest that have grown the fastest in recent years with Twitter, LinkedIn and Reddit also recording impressive growth.

Roy Morgan CEO, Michele Levine said since 2017 Facebook has grown by a modest 540,000 as the network appears close to maximising its Australian audience. YouTube user growth has also slowed in recent years with an increase of only 200,000 since 2017.

“Instagram and Pinterest have experienced the strongest growth over the last two years with both outpacing the growth of their larger rivals. Facebook-owned subsidiary Instagram has more than tripled its user-base since 2015 and over 8 million Australians now visit Instagram. This is an increase of 238% in only four years and over the last two years Instagram has gained nearly 1.8 million new users,” Levine said. It’s a similar story at Pinterest which has more than doubled its user base from around 2.7 million four years ago to almost 7.4 million today. Pinterest has attracted over 2 million new users in the last two years alone.”

According to Levine, the two are attracting different audiences. Instagram appeals to a younger audience with 68% of Generation Z and 52% of Generation Y using Instagram in an average four weeks. The two youngest generations are over 70% of Instagram’s total users. In contrast only 33% of Generation Z use Pinterest and the highest penetration of Pinterest users is found with Generation X of whom 40% use Pinterest. The majority of Pinterest’s users are in the three older generations of pre-boomers, baby boomers or Generation X,” she said.